Can’t you almost smell the change in the political air at the Hamilton County Courthouse?
It’s not just an air of change; it’s an air of youth. Of learning and growing and exploring.
Move over, boomers – with all your tired talk about God, babies, apple pie and an occasional obligatory nod to education, public safety and the boilerplate pablum about smaller/too big government. Public service should be about leadership and listening, not prayers, speechifying and dog whistles.
We’re excited today to say that either 35-year-old Republican Weston Wamp or 26-year-old Matt Adams will be the next mayor of Hamilton County. (What’s more, we’re also excited to note the 11-member Hamilton County Commission, while it may tend to remain in the older age bracket, will – depending on how vote counts tally out on Aug. 4 – be packed with anywhere from seven to nine newbies.)
Sure some of our residents will, and already are, wringing their hands about inexperience. But as retiring County Mayor Jim Coppinger recently noted, that’s what good, seasoned courthouse staff members are for – to be reminders that the-way-things-have-always-been-done had an origin in reason, even if it might now be time to re-evaluate.